In the Netherlands, a very rare case occurred when a 17-year-old boy after the operation on his knee, he suddenly forgot his native language and his own parents and spoke only English, thinking he was in the United States.
It is noted that the boy injured his knee while playing soccer. He was hospitalized and performed the operation. When he regained consciousness, the young man suddenly spoke English and did not recognize his parents. He was convinced that he was in the United States, and he did not remember the Dutch language, which was his mother tongue. Instead, he learned and practiced English only at school, not at home.
«The patient’s native language was Dutch, and his second language was English. He learned the latter at a non-bilingual school during regular English classes. In these classes, he spoke only English. Throughout his life, including the morning before the surgery, he spoke only Dutch», — the doctors’ report said.
Doctors note that this is a very rare case — it has been recorded literally 8 times in the world medical practice. We are talking about the left ventricular weakness syndrome, or as it is also called — foreign language syndrome. This is the first such recorded case among adolescents.
Initially, doctors thought that the boy had delirium tremens, a temporary state of confusion that is often observed in patients after anesthesia. However, it usually lasts no more than 30 minutes. In this case, the boy continued to speak English even several hours after the surgery.
A team of psychiatrists came to examine the guy. The guy answered the questions asked to him in English with a Dutch accent. Only a few hours later he began to answer in Dutch, but it was with considerable effort.
The psychiatrists concluded that the young man had a rare condition in which a person begins to speak a foreign language or with a foreign accent. Since this condition can mostly be caused by brain damage due to stroke, migraine, or The doctors decided to conduct a full neurological examination. According to its results, no abnormalities were found in the boy’s brain.
The boy began to understand the Dutch language again only 18 hours after the surgery. A day after the surgery, he spoke Dutch as usual with his friends who came to visit him.
At the same time, the Dutchman perfectly remembered everything that happened to him after he regained consciousness after the operation. He confirmed that he spoke exclusively English, not remembering his native language and not recognizing his parents.
Researchers: surgeries on Fridays have «more chances of death»
Source: ZME Science
